Iris
by Dandilyons
Summary: Eli meets a girl at his college. He feels something that he hasn't felt in a long time. It looks like a fresh start is just what he needs. But will old habbits and old flames be a problem?
1. The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face

Eli clicked away furiously at his film project, making absolutely no real process. Pushing away his laptop, he went over to his bed and ploped down as he heard the door being unlocked. His roommate than emerged from the dorm hallway with his girlfriend trailing behind.

"Hey dude, how goes the project? Must be pretty important to stay in, on a Friday in New York."

"Oh, I'm having a hard time getting it together how I want. But you know me, I'm just stressing. I'll have it done by Thursday. What are you two crazy kids up to?" Eli said motioning to his roommate Kyle and his girlfriend Fiona.

"Actually, were on our way to a Walmart run. Wanna join? Fiona's new roommate, Iris needs a lift home. You probably need to get out of the room. Mid Terms are turning you into a shut it."

Running his fingers through his hair, Eli sighed and rolled off of his bed and grabbed his jacket. "Oh why not."

"Awesome, lets head out," Kyle said as he opened the door.

"I didn't know that you got a new roomie Fi. She nice?"

"Yeah, she's pretty nice. She's a studio art major. She goes to mic night a Baldwin's down the street. She moved in Tuesday, so I don't know too terribly much though."

"Fi, you forgot the best part! She plays Mario Kart!"

Fiona rolled her eyes and chuckled as she buckled her seatbelt, "Oh yeah, you finally have someone to play with."

"Someone to finally humble you?" Eli joked.

"Fat chance Goldsworthy." Kyle said as he glanced at his GPS for his next turn.

The car turned into the parking lot and came to a rest at a spot out front.

Fi glanced nervously around and said, "I'm going to go wait for her inside, you guys should join me."

"Fair enough," Eli mumbled as he and Kyle made their way for the door.

Weaving their way through the late night shoppers of New York, they placed themselves at the bench up front.

Fiona craned her neck to search the crowd. Stroking the small of her back Kyle whispered, "Hey she's fine."

"Is everything okay?"

Before they could answer, they were interupted by a a faint, "Hey!"

Eli noticed a pale girl with brown wavy hair in a Walmart Uniform. She was struggling to sling her heavy bag over her chubby body as she neared them. He was absolutely charmed by her clumsy, awkward nature. He didn't notice anyone else in the store.

"How was work?" Fionna asked, breaking Eli out of his haze.

"The usual horror. Getting yelled at all day by crazies. Thanks for the ride by the way, you totally didn't hav-"

"Oh hush Iris. Its really no big deal. Oh! This is Kyles friend Eli, by the way."

Eli held his hand out as his eyes met her lovely green ones. "Its nice to meet you Iris."

She blushed and mumbled, "Its nice to meet you too."

She adjusted the bag on her shoulder, biting her lip. "Are you guys ready to head out?"

"Yeah, lets get you out of here," Kyle said playfully punching her shoulder. "Unless you want to work some more?"

"Hell no," she muttered making a beeline for the automatic doors.

Eli chucked as the automatic doors closed being them. Its been a long time since anyone has caught his eye since Claire. Suddenly Eli felt a surge of insecurity. Its been a long time since he began completely fresh with someone. The car came to a slow at a stop light. Eli looked over at her noticing how she silently mouthed the words playing on the radio; her wavy locks falling around her face.

"Hey, you guys up for a movie night?" 

"Sure." Eli and Iris said at the same time.

Iris glanced over to Eli and said, "It sounds great actually."


	2. You Looked Cold Too

Eli figited nervously as Kyle and Fiona shuffled through DVD's looking for a good scary one to begin the movie night. Kyles mocking chuckle brought Eli back to reality.

"What?" Eli mumbled.

"You're kinda diggin' her aren't you?" 8168590040Said Kyle as he wiggled her eyebrows.

"Shut up," Eli said supressing a smile. "She seems really nice and super beautiful. Pretty quite though."

"Oh, just wait until she warms up to you. She never shuts u-" Before Kyle could finish Fiona elbowed him square in the chest.

"Whats taking her so long with the snacks?" Fiona mused as she abscent mindedly scrolled through her phone.

"Oh, probably recovering from the horror that is working at walmart."

There was a small timid knock at the door that caused Eli to launch out of his bed. Opening without a second though, he was greeted by Iris. She was wearing a frayed "Misfits" T Shirt and Plaid Pj bottoms. There was a bag of Dorritos tucked under one arm and a package of cookies under the other.

"I come bearing food," she said forcing a smile. "I got a bit lost. I'm sorry I'm late."

"Oh no big, the two love birds are still chosing a movie," Eli said as he tried to read her face. Her eyes were slightly read and watery. She had been crying but was obviously putting on a good face. She met his eyes and immediately looked away. "Oh uh, where do you want these?"

He took them from her and placed them on the night stand. "Go ahead and get comfy Iris. Hey, you two, what'll it be? I want to start before I'm 80."

"Wellllll.. were thinking 30 Days of Night," Fiona said waving the disk in the air.

As Iris settled in to the corner of Eli's bed she mumbled, "Oh Jesus, Now I'll never sleep."

"Don't worry, Eli will protect you," Kyle said with a wink.

With a scarlett flush on his face Eli managed to say, "Says that man that broke his toe running away from a spider."

The giggles subsided as Fiona turned the lights off. Eli sat on the other side of Iris and tried to focus on the previews. They didn't interest him nearly as much as the beautiful curves of Iris's face. Out of the corner of his eye he saw her arms wrapping around herself. "Hey, are you cold?" He said smiling.

"Yeah," she whispered beaming up at him.

He leaned over to grab his blanket, gently placing it over her. Without warning she threw the rest of the lenth over his body. She leaned up and whispered, "You looked cold too."

Besides ocassional commentary and giggling, the room was fairly quiet with the air heavy in the antisipation only a horror film can bring. There was a sudden vibration on the bed that caused Iris to jump and grab Eli. He laughed out loud as she stammered and apologized. The vibration continued in several bursts. "You must be one popular lady," Eli teased. She bit her lip and took her phone out of her pocket. Her brows immediately furrowed as she glanced at the phone screened. In that moment she looked truly scared. She fumbled with the phone and dropped it, before she hastily shoved it in her pocket. Eli only managed to make out one of the several texts she had gotten. "Missed you at work bitch. I'll get you next time." She pulled the covers up to her chin with shaking hands. Eli leaned in so the others wouldn't hear. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Iris said abscentmindidly looking at the tv screen. "I'l be okay. Just some asshole."

Eli put his hand over her shaking ones and said, "I'm here for you if you want to talk."

At that moment a shrill sound came from the movie causing Fiona to scream bloody murder.

Laughter erupted from the room, lifting the tension.

Throughout the movie Iris seemed to shift to Eli's direction, finally with her innocently leaned up against him fast asleep. When the movie ended Kyle asked, "Wanna watch, Dogma?"

"Yeah, sure.." Eli said gazing down at Iris. He repositioned the covers as the begining of the movie started. He hardly knew he but he knew this felt wonderful. He was so deep in thought that he barely realized that they were through a quarter of the movie. Iris began to stir lightly unti she completely shot up in a state of anxiety. She was widly looking around as she scooted away from Eli. Fiona hurried over to her and whispered soothingly, "Hey hey hey, its okay. He isn't here."

Fiona wrapped her in a hug as Iris shook her head. "I'm sorry about that guys. I'm probably gonna go."

She looked over to a bewildered Eli and said, "Thanks for having me over."

And before anyone could say anything, she was out of the door, with Fiona and Kyle trailing behind her. Eli just sat there in a wake of confusion. What was she up against?


	3. Last Minute Date

Eli woke up early, which was out of the ordinary for sure. But last night wasn't a very ordinary night. Everything was left off on uneasy footing and it threw him into a funk. He sighed and drew his attention to his film project.

There was a timid knock at the door. Without checking, he knew who it was and swung the door open immediately. There stood Iris in a simple floral dress and a cardigan. He smiled warmly and motioned her in. "Hey, whats up?"

"Hey, Eli, can we talk?" She said nervously placing herself on the edge of his bed.

"Sure, I was worried. Are you okay?" He said meeting her gaze.

"The thing is.. I had to move in with Fiona for a reason. I dated someone at the begining of the semester and it didn't end well. Theres something wrong with him, and I didn't notice until the end," she said bitterly. "He started showing up at my dorm, work, and he's till blowing up my phone. Its gotten so bad that I had to move dorms. I'm glad that Fiona let me in given the circumstances. The police is working with me on it but its going kinda slow. I'm really scared. I'm really thankful for Fiona and Kyle for helping me out so much. I just hate that they' putting so much time into it. Its taking over my life. I don't want it to take over anyone elses. But- Oh god, I'm babbling. I'm so sorry."

"Hey hey, its okay. I told you, that you could talk to me."

"I just- I just wanted to apologize for last night. I know it was kind of weird. I don't sleep much, but when I do I have terrible nightmares."

"Oh don't worry about it. Its no big deal I promise," Eli said with a reassuring smile.

"Well, I better let you get back to being productive," Iris said motioning to his discarded lap top.

"You headed somewhere?" Eli said Innocently.

"I'm going to Baldwins to grab some coffee or tea. And to the Kin Lin's down the steet for some chinese food. I have a long night of photo editing ahead of me. Figured I should treat myself."

"Mind if I tag along?"

"Oh so your gonna babysit me too huh?" Iris said gently poking his shoulder.

"Nooo. I'm actually doing the same with my filming project. You can join me if you like. Baracade ourselves in with our computers, chinese and caffiene. It'd be super nice to have company."

"That would be really nice actually." She said as she watched Eli put on his jacket out of the corner of her eye.

As he held the door open for her he asked, "So I hear that you go to mic night at Baldwin's. What do you play?"

"Oh I play guitar and sing. I do covers, but I'm trying to work on my own stuff. "

"Do you play?"

"Nawww, but I am a fan of music."

The convo went on without a break as she led him down the street to the coffee shop. Through out the walk Eli glanced around. Of course he went to make sure she was alright. But really, he was just hoping to spend time with her. He couldn't help wonder how she did it. How she walked around not knowing what was gonna happen. He's been in the loop less than 24 hours it already drove him crazy. Before they got to Baldwin's, Eli stopped to look at Iris.

"Hey I know this is last minute, but do you want to go get chinese first. Ya know, go in and eat. I'd love to get to know you more."

"So, is this a date?"

"Uh, yeah. I'm sure hoping so," Eli said with his usual confident smile.

"I'd love to," sair is, unable to contain her giant smile.

"Well lets go my lady," He said as he linked his arms in hers.

For the first time in a long time, Iris forgot all of her stress. There was something about Eli that made her feel at ease. He didn't hover over her like Fiona and Kyle, but yet there was something about him that made her feel safe. Throughout their date on, they didn't notice anyone else in the room. She was far too fixated on his crooked smile. As she was caught up in this haze, Eli said her name.

"Iris, you there?"

"Oh, sorry!" She said as she started giggling. "I was just thinking."

"About?" He said as he put his glass to his lips.

"That you're just something else." She said with a blush on her cheeks.

"Well, I happened to think you're quite wonderful too," He said as he reached for her hand.


End file.
